Step 7: Closing the Case

Step 8: You're Done!!

Plug everything in. Pat yourself on the back for a job well done. Show off to your friends that you have a NES computer that, if you've gotten a NES E...

I decided to make one of these after seeing the one made by hatsuli (rest in peace). So here is my version of an NES PC. For what it is, it was a beast of a build. This is my first computer build. Consequently, this is also my first Instructable.

Step 1: Getting the Gear

First you'll have to get all the gear. For the NES I got just what I need from here fast shipping, reasonable pricing. They were great. As for the rest, the motherboard I got is a mini board. 6.7in by 6.7in I got this board since it comes with a laptop style power source. Which saves a ton of room for the rest of the stuff. I got that idea from nemaster203.

Nice, I thought about using Velcro but I used the cover itself to harness the slim dvd drive in place with 2 screws and a thick piece of aluminum. I used a Dremel and added to holes to each side and screwed it on. The aluminum piece has enough room to place the sata & power cables.

Do you know if this would have a large enough amount of space to fit a decent single slot graphics/video card. If that said card was low profile/slim line or such. Or would I have to get a 90 degree pci-e angle adapter.

Thanks i haven't been on this site in a while so I'm just getting to replying to this while at school (after having completed my school work of course). So thank you again for clearing the Zune thing up. However I kinda pegged you for a Linux type guy.

Still looking to clone the drive? There's plenty of free software that works decently good. It's just slow if you have a bloated drive like I did. Make sure the drive to be cloned isn't the OS drive on the PC or else you need a second machine to plug it into. Plug the old and new drives in, direct the software to the drives, clone, done, ..., profit?

There's a few things that I would have done differently, but I'm pretty sure most people would after their first time building something like this. I would suggest replacing the red power LED with a dual- or tri-colored LED so you can also have a HDD indicator light. Also, using resistors to connect the LED is always best, but if you get the right LED you may not need to with the power coming from the motherboard.

I would also cut holes on the top vents (the bottom side) because those L-shaped vent things prevent airflow, and then add 40mm fans to that part to get some extra airflow. I know that when I built mine from hatsuli's instructable, the dual core Atom processor in the motherboard I used was getting into the 80C range, so I had to add those extra fans and cut those holes in it so it would actually work. You'll see what I mean about those vent holes if you actually do that.

Another thing I would suggest doing is using one of the controller ports or the black plastic space above the controller ports to add a IR remote sensor, in case you're going to be using this as a HTPC like I am.

If you don't choose to use a motherboard that has a built-in picoPSU, you can just buy a picoPSU and use your own power brick for those, if you have one the right voltage and amps for your particular picoPSU you ordered. A picoPSU is basically the same thing as having the motherboard come with a built-in PSU, except you buy it separate and it takes up just a little bit of room, it's not even that much actually.

Another thing you can do is use high-quality black cardboard like I did and glue that to all the ugly holes when you're putting your stuff in. It makes it look a bit better (Controller ports and where the DVD/BD drive goes). You can also cut holes in this cardboard for things like front audo ports, more USB ports, or just make a grill for it instead so you can lift the DVD drive cover for some extra airflow.

You can also fit 2 regular sized 2.5" harddrives or SSDs underneath the motherboard if you do it right, so if you think you're going to need extra storage, that's an option.

You can omit the DVD/BD drive if you don't think you're going to use them and get a 2.5" harddrive hotswap bay instead, so you can put games on a SSD to insert your "cartridge" to play games.

I hope some of these ideas can help people when they're building their own NES PC.